Looking for plasma? This website may come in handy

Mohammad.Ibrar@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:

When Adwitiya Mal’s father-in-law contracted Covid-19 recently, he and his wife were worried about his health. For four long days, the family couldn’t get the plasma that was required for his treatment.

“This experience shouldn’t have happened to people in the 21st century. We realised we were lucky that we found the plasma, but there must be many who would have never been able to.”

It was to help those in need that he and his family started a website. With over 200 registrations of recipients and donors in the past few days, Delhi-based website — ‘dhoondh’ has been helping patients and donors get connected.

Mal told TOI that they had a tough time finding a donor for his father-in-law. “Throughout all that, I was thinking to myself that there should be a better way than us calling up people and asking them about donors. Nobody had expected that something like this pandemic would come and we would need plasma.”

The family managed to get a donor after four days. “In those four days, we felt helplessness and desperation. During the period, we met many equally desperate people looking for the plasma and also kind and generous people who donated their plasma,” the family wrote on the website that they started to make sure that others do not go through what they did.

“There are many people who say that they are glad about being saved by the treatment and they want to help others. And we are seeing so many people coming forward to donate their plasma to save lives of others,” added Mal, who runs an agriculture venture.

The website, started last week, has so far managed to get over 9,000 visits. More than 200 recipients and donors have registered. People can register on the website with some basic details, such as contact details, location and blood group. The details provided by donors are matched with the recipients’ specific requirements and a list of donors is then generated from the database. Once the donors are identified, the recipients receive a list of people in proximity so that they can contact them directly.

KIN OF PATIENT SAY

There are many people who say that they are glad about being saved by the treatment and they want to help others